THIS past weekend, I attended the protest at Riverlea held by Indigenous elders and members of the community who are concerned with the treatment of discovered Indigenous remains.
The residential development is one of the state’s biggest, with the project set to create 12,000 new homes in the north.
But the remains of at least 29 people were uncovered at the construction site earlier this year, which has caused appropriate outrage amongst Aboriginal communities across the country.
The weekend was the result of tensions reaching boiling point, sending protesters rallying on the main street of the housing project.
It is obviously a tricky situation for all involved, including the developers who likely would have had no idea what lay underneath when they purchased the rights to build on the land.
However, this does not diminish the pain and anguish of the Indigenous community.
The event started with a smoking ceremony, with those in attendance ‘cleansing’ themselves from the site’s negative energy.
Tears were shed by many on the day, with Indigenous elders expressing their anguish at seeing their ancestors removed from their place of rest.
“What if we went and dug up your family members?” was a repeated question posed by leaders of the protest, which I hope made people stop and think about how much impact the situation is having on the people to which this country belongs.
This construction is happening on Kaurna land, and I hope our decisionmakers remember that this always was, and always will be, Aboriginal land.
